marhaba,

you wrote: People want the fast easy way though. So, they ask for a pill. Who's at fault here? The providers or the consumers?

Its the other way around. The drugs are being pushed, thats why doctors have so many free samples in the office, they hand them out on a regular basis.

Are you a doctor?

"No respectable member of the allopathic community would ever call menopause a disease. Menopause is a naturally occurring stage of life. HRT is an option to reduce symptoms."

You have proven my point. If it is not a disease than why talk about 'symptoms'?! This is the medicalization of a natural process in life that we've been brainwashed into thinking requires some form of 'treatment'.

There is plenty of brainstorming that goes on in the board rooms of pharmaceutical companies to increase the 'need' for their products. They are working in close relationship with PR firms and advertising agencies. And thanks to Direct-To-Consumer advertising, people are being conditioned to believe they have a problem and should consult their doctor for a pharmaceutical treatment. The medical community does not invest their time and resources in preventive medicine, nor in safe and natural treatments for conditions. Why? It is too time consuming and unprofitable. There is not even a definition of HEALTH! That speaks volumes.

My background is in mental health and I can assure you that a psychiatrist (in the vast majority of cases) is not going to take the time to delve into your life circumstances. How could they when a typical appointment lasts 15 minutes?! They inquire about symptoms and get out their script pad.

I agree that some people want a quick fix, but a growing number of people have had it with the astronomical costs of medications, the horrendous side effects that are sometimes worse than the disease itself, and they are looking for alternatives that are safe and natural. Hence, the rise in using complementary medicine and the number of allopaths that are jumping on the bandwagon. And, frankly, many people are unaware that there are other options or have been brainwashed into believing that doctors are all-knowing demi-gods, and pharmaceutical companies have all that research to back up their claims. Never mind that pharma funds most of that research and Science and stats can be manipulated to demonstrate almost anything!

Allopaths recognize that they are losing money by not addressing the concerns of their patients, and they are also attempting to establish controls on these 'alternative' therapies. Why can a physician or chiropractor perform acupuncture with only a weekend workshop of training, while (in some states) a fully trained practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine is faced with a federal offense (practicing medicine without a license) if they provide their service? Why are a growing number of supplements and herbs being blended into proprietary formulas that are only available to medical practitioners while there are constant threats by the FDA and other controlling agencies to restrict the sale of these supplements and herbs to the general consumer? I am unaware of anyone making methamphetamine from ephedra, and yet ephedra's sales were banned while psuedoephedrine was allowed to remain available. I suppose the 'dangers' or ephedra far outweighed the epidemic of crank addicts!!!

And regarding cholesterol and the drugs used to treat it...I suggest you do some research on statins. "The pill is great for them."? I couldn't disagree more.

http://www.mercola.com/2003/jul/26/cholesterol_drugs.htm

Hi Karlin,

Your post is very interesting because it brings up the other side of the allopathic coin. If they DON'T have a treatment for a condition, they will deny it exists and either label you as NUTZ or assume that there is some dark, hidden agenda for why you don't go along with their protocol. Having worked as a health psychologist in a medical setting, I have seen this happen over and over again. Patients would be referred to me because they were thought to be wacky hypochondriacs or because they were 'difficult patients' who were not compliant with treatments. The poor patients would not only suffer from whatever condition they had, they would also suffer from the alienation and stigma of having a 'mental illness'. And they would often become depressed BECAUSE of this added stress and feeling their situation was hopeless.

Oddly I had a similar experience with dental treatment as a child...although the motive was different. A sadistic dentist drilled craters into my molars leaving little left of my teeth, and he did it with no novicaine or gas. I have vivid memories of white-knuckling the arms of the chair, and once suffered his slip which resulted in drilling my tongue. His motive? He had the hots for my mother, an attractive divorcee who didn't return the interest...but she's the one that would bring me to the dentist so he would get to see her whenever he scheduled me. I'm still not over my fear of dentists, although now it is compounded by knowing that there are additional motivations at work for many of their practices and they are NOT in my best interest.

A healthy body by however means you get there of course is the first line of defense against disease, since the human body has a remarkable ability to adapt and fight infection. HPV does not always cause cervical cancer. It's possible that staying healthy can prevent it from progressing, or maybe it's lots of things and the luck of the draw leads to eventual cervical cancer. I DO want to be educated here as I've had good experiences with alternative medicine with myself and my family in the past, but I just don't think that completely disconnecting and condemning allopathic medicine is a responsible way to deal with your own health as well. There are some things that each path does better than the other, that I won't deny. But, just as there are some bad apples on the allopathic side, the same is true for alternative medicines. Intentional or not, some "cures" are bogus or at least not very effective. Blindly saying that ANY alternative healthcare is by default better than anything that allopathic medicine provides isn't the right approach. There's poisonous stuff (literal and metaphorical) everywhere. My point with the viruses is that a healthy body, mind, and spirit is not enough to prevent some diseases from developing. Some viruses and bacteria are very dangerous and very contagious, even if you do all the right things, and sometimes the human body needs some help.